At the turn of the fourteenth

century Villeneuve was founded

and developed thanks to a few

unpredictable vagaries of the

political situation. Understanding

that he was on the point

of losing control of Provence, a king of France

decided to fortify his borders there. Then, as

the papacy had settled on Avignon as its home

in exile, Villeneuve became one of the favourite

places for country residences for the papal court.

The imposing military installation of Fort

Saint-André, a project devised by Philippe le Bel

and brought to fruition under Jean le Bon, and

the Carthusian monastery of the Chartreuse du

Val-de-Bénédiction, founded by Pope Innocent VI,

are monuments that mark the landscape and bear

witness to that turbulent period when the banks

of the Rhône were the setting for History with

a capital H.